Children's Needs – Parenting Capacity - Digital Education Resource ...

66 Children’s Needs – Parenting Capacitydomestic violence, problem alcohol or drug use, have a history of childhood abuse,growing up in care or a combination of these (Cleaver and Nicholson 2007).Although there is substantial evidence showing that a combination of parentalmental illness, learning disability and problem substance misuse increases the riskto children’s safety and welfare, the best predictor of adverse long-term effects onchildren is the co-existence with family disharmony and violence. This is reinforcedby the findings from serious case reviews ‘...domestic violence, substance misuse, mentalhealth problems and neglect were frequent factors in the families’ backgrounds, and itis the combination of these factors which is particularly ‘toxic’’ (Brandon et al 2010,p.iii).In contrast, when families remain cohesive and harmonious, research wouldsuggest that many children, despite experiencing difficulties during childhood, areresilient and do not go on to have more problems in adulthood than other people(see Quinton and Rutter 1985 for mental illness; Velleman and Orford 2001 andCleaver et al. 2007 for substance misuse; Cleaver and Nicholson 2007 for learningdisability).Aspects of parentingTo understand the ways in which parental mental illness, learning disability,excessive drinking, drug misuse, and domestic violence may affect children’s healthand development and indeed their safety, the following aspects of parenting areexamined:parenting skillsparents’ perceptionscontrol of emotionsneglect of physical needsparent–child attachment relationshipsseparation of children and parents.Parenting skillsThere is considerable research evidence which suggests that mental illness, learningdisability, problem drinking or drug use and domestic violence affects parentingskills. For example, apathy and listlessness, classic symptoms of depression, whichmay be mirrored in those who use illicit drugs or are subject to domestic violence,mean parents have difficulty in organising day-to-day living. As a result they are oftenunpredictable, inconsistent and ineffective in their parenting (see Oyserman et al.2000 for mental illness; Cleaver and Nicholson 2007 for learning disability; Barnard